REPORTS
Human Rights advocates slam new governmental procedure to investigate refoulement allegations as lacking independence and credibility
On 19 July 2022, the Ministry of Immigration submitted a last minute amendment to a bill, assigning the collection and preliminary assessment of complaints of refoulement and the violations of fundamental rights during the reception of refugees to the Commissioner for the Protection of Fundamental Rights, i.e. an employee of the Ministry of Immigration itself, or a temporary employee selected by a committee composed of a majority of officials of the relevant ministries. It should be noted that these officials, in turn, are also appointed by the competent ministers. Furthermore, according to the same amendment, a committee with a similar composition is entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the harmonisation of border management and international protection procedures with fundamental rights.
An official of the Ministry of Immigration, or an official who is essentially selected by members of the government, will therefore be responsible for collecting and evaluating complaints of refoulement and of violations of international law allegedly committed by the Greek authorities and the government. This lack of independence calls into question the credibility of the investigative procedure, as the government and the Greek authorities have full control over the process.
The Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR) released a statement on 21 July 2022, arguing that the composition of committees in which the majority of the members are members of the administration of the relevant ministries under the hierarchical mandate of their political superiors, lack the slightest guarantee of independent and impartial judgement. A lack of independence and credibility in pushback investigations is an important rule of law issue. This is because refugee push backs are a flagrant violation of international law and are prohibited by Article 33 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the Geneva Convention. We also recall that in February 2022, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi announced that UNHCR had recorded almost 540 cases of refoulement at Greek sea and land borders since the beginning of 2020.
We should also note that the last minute submission of legislative amendments violates the rules of good legislation. Aiming at adopting rules of good and transparent lawmaking within the framework of the rule of law, Article 74 para. 5 of the Constitution, and Articles 87, 88 and 101 of the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure stipulate that ministerial amendments to proposed bills must be tabled up to three days before the start of the debate in the plenary or the relevant parliamentary committee, prohibiting amendments unrelated to the main subject matter of the bill.
The purpose of these rules is to allow sufficient time for the processing and scrutiny – both by Members of Parliament and by the general public – of the regulations proposed by ministers in the form of amendments. The ban on late amendments prevents the tabling – shortly before the bill is passed – of regulations that will inevitably escape the public eye, regulating in a non-transparent and unaccountable manner issues relating to individual rights, public procurement and other important matters affecting the lives of millions of citizens.
With a last minute legislative amendment, the Greek government has established a procedure for the collection and preliminary assessment of allegations of refoulement which does not meet the requirements of independence and credibility that should distinguish investigations into possible violations of fundamental rights.
Guarantees of independence and credibility should also be present in the examination of complaints of pushbacks by the Greek authorities, since these are prohibited by international law and, more specifically, by Article 33 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
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